Recently, there has been an increased interest in tailored development of certain classes of polymers, such as electrically conductive and optically active polymers (e.g. polythiophene, polypyrrole and polyaniline) for application to wider ranges of use. Examples of such uses include light-weight energy storage devices, electrolytic capacitors, anti-static and anti-corrosive coatings for smart windows, and biological sensors. However, the potential applications to which polymers can be put has been limited by some fundamental properties of monomers employed to form these polymers and by limitations of known polymerization techniques.
Among the problems commonly associated with electrically conductive and optically active polymers is their relative lack of water solubility. Typically, therefore, these polymers are formed in an organic solvent. Attempts to increase the water solubility of these polymers, such as polyaniline, have included derivatization of the monomer or resulting polymer formation. However, derivatization of monomers typically slows polymerization, and derivatization of polymers generally causes some degradation.
Moreover, the physical properties of polymeric materials is generally limited by an inability to manipulate the shape and orientation of polymer chains except by mechanical means, such as extrusion, or by polarization of relatively short polymers or oligomers in an electric field. Further, synthetic methods of forming polymers generally do not provide means for manipulating their shape during polymerization.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome or minimize the above-referenced problems associated with polymer synthesis.